Basic Tokens

A basic token represents something related to you: plans or preparations that you've undertaken, a mundane possession, what your character is doing when they're "off-camera", or anything similar where you want to be able to prove to other people at some future time that you came up with something of importance at a particular time.

A basic token doesn't cost you anything, but it also grants no system advantage. Consequently, it's primarily a gesture of trust, and a repository of information. In a simplistic sense, it's a substitute for a +mail message — except not only is this a timestamped message, but other people can sign their agreement in a timestamped away, it can be amended over time, and so forth.

You can create a basic token with:

+token/write title-of-token

This will invoke the editor, allowing you to write a description of the token.

Basic Token Example: Eric's Proxy

Eric wants to negotiate with Moire for help against the Black Road invasion, but he doesn't want to go himself. He goes to Llewella, and convinces her to plead his case to Moire, on Amber's behalf. He tells her that he'll back whatever she chooses to say, and he gives her a sigil to show Moire, to show that he's given her his proxy.

Eric's player writes a token and describes what the sigil looks like and what it means: Eric has given Llewella his sigil, so she can show it to Moire. It is a silver rod about the size of a pencil, set with ruby and onyx, the red and black of Eric's colors. Such sigils are traditionally used to show that the bearer has the giver's proxy, and in this case, it can be presumed to mean that Llewella has authority to negotiate on his behalf with Rebma.

Eric gives the token to Llewella. When Llewella meets with Moire, she can +declare the token to her, so Moire gets the description and is told what it means. (Moire's player can decide whether Moire understands the significance of the sigil, but the token gives her the necessary OOC information from Eric to make that play decision.)

Basic Token Example: Caine's Concealed Knife

Caine almost always carries a knife concealed on his person. His player wants to be able to prove this advanced preparation to others, just in case Caine gets ambushed — he doesn't want to say to the other player, "Caine always carries a hidden knife," and for the other person to reply sarcastically, "Yeah, sure he does. You just decided that a moment ago." A timestamped token is the best way to prove that he thought of it ahead of time.

Caine's player writes a token that begins with: Caine always carries at three concealed knives — one in a wrist sheath, one in his right boot, and one strapped to the small of his back.

Now, when Caine gets jumped, he can just +declare the token, showing that he's armed. (This is subject to reasonable negotiation, of course; if someone ambushes Caine when he's in a state of dress that doesn't lend itself to weapon concealment, then the token doesn't logically make sense and Caine's opponent can refuse to accept it.)

Basic Token Example: Benedict's Plan for the Return of the Moonriders

Benedict is concerned that Amber may again be attacked by the Moonriders of Ghenesh. He's spent some time laying out a contingency plan, with a set of pre-prepared orders for the Army and his commanders if there should be signs of a new invasion.

Benedict's player wants to be able to prove, at a later date, that he came up with this plan in advance. This might be important if whoever is playing his opposition in Ghenesh doesn't have any kind of established OOC trust relationship with Benedict's player, and therefore might not be inclined to believe that Benedict's player didn't "cheat" and make a plan after he heard what Ghenesh was doing and then claim OOC that Benedict intended that all along. By writing a token that describes his contingency plans, Benedict's player can prove he's telling the truth about the plans, by declaring the token (which is automatically timestamped when written) if the Moonriders ever do invade. (This doesn't mean, though, that his opposition needs to agree that the token is valid, in part or in its entirety, though — he might assert, for instance, that certain aspects of the plan don't seem to follow logically, or he might protest that some bits aren't going to make for good play, etc.)

Benedict writes a token that begins: Benedict believes that the Moonriders of Ghenesh may attack Amber again, and has prepared a contingency plan, which will be activated in the event of an invasion. This plan encompasses the following list of things… and is followed by a specific list of details.

Basic Token Example: Chantris's Heirloom Inkwell

Lord Chantris's player wants to run a plot whereby an important Chantris heirloom, an ancient inkwell belonging to the first Lord Chantris, is stolen. The inkwell is not magical, but it is old, valuable, and important.

Chantris's player writes a token describing the inkwell and its history. Now, when people investigating ask OOC about what information might be available about the inkwell, he has the convenience of just being able to +declare the token at them to show them what they might be able to learn. To make things easier on other people in Chantris who are helping him run this plot, he gives them the ability to +declare this token to others, too.

Lord Chantris writes a token that begins: Several generations ago, the Duke of Chantris commissioned a special inkwell from one of Amber City's most skilled glassblowers. Since that time, this inkwell has been used to supply the ink for the quills used to sign the House's most significant documents. Though not inherently especially valuable, it thus has great historical and sentimental value to the House. The token goes on to give more details about the inkwell and related plot details.

Basic Token Example: Flora's Dashing Lover

Flora has a dashing lover who is a recurring NPC in Flora's backhistory, and occasionally appears on-screen. Flora wants him to be related to House Feldane, and to have served with Bleys in the past.

Flora's player writes a token describing him and his history, and asks the prop controller for House Feldane, and Bleys, to sign the token, indicating that they've agreed to these links with them. Now, Flora has the convenience of being able to +declare the token to people to prove that the history has been agreed to, which is convenient if someone's not OOCly sure if they should accept Flora's claim of the history and Feldane's controller and/or Bleys aren't logged on. (This also serves as clear proof of agreement on history, should Bleys change hands — the new player can clearly not go back on this agreement.)

Later, Flora's player decides that dashing lover's favors occasionally involves carrying out a particular request from Flora — secretly sneaking her useful information from the Admiralty records. She negotiates this with the Admiralty's prop controller, who at the time is Caine, and she writes an amendment to the token, describing the arrangement, which Caine then signs. Caine's player then periodically sends information Flora's way.

Some time later, control of the Navy passes to Gerard, and Gerard becomes the Admiralty's prop controller. Flora's player informs Gerard's player of the past arrangement, and does a +declare of the token to prove what was previously agreed to. (Gerard's player may still negotiate to modify or even nullify the arrangement, but the token is firm proof of what Caine agreed to.)

Basic Token Example: A Conflict Contract

Young Bayle is a hothead. His player wants to have him pick a fight with a bunch of his peers in the other noble houses, in hopes of stirring up some excitement. His player, though, wants to make sure that the conflict doesn't turn into a general war between the Houses, and he also thinks it'd be useful to set some ground rules, like the props that can be affected and how much of the conflict should take place on-screen vs. +mail, the bboards, or +gossip.

His player negotiates with the other people who are likely to participate in the conflict. Then, he writes up a "contract", describing the terms of the conflict, in the form of a token. He shows this token to the other participants, and gets them all to sign the token.

Hopefully, that gets everyone on the same page, and in OOC agreement about the limits and terms of the conflict. While this probably won't eliminate OOC friction once people get into IC antagonism, it will at least ensure that everyone has agreed to the same ground rules, and that there's been open communication about Bayle's player's intent. The token serves to signify agreement, and may come in useful if the players end up in OOC wrangling about the conflict, and end up needing someone to arbitrate.

Effort Tokens

Effort tokens exist specifically for use on the story flagpole (see Token Usage), and other times when you might wish to invest Focus in order to signify commitment to something. They represent the commitment of personal effort and assets towards a particular story-scope goal. They are a special form of Resource tokens, that doesn't require a Resource prop.

When you create an effort token, you spend 3 points of Focus, and obtain a resource token at base potency. This token can never be spent for a bonus. All the restrictions that apply to Basic Tokens apply to Effort Tokens.

You create an effort token with:

+token/effort title-of-token

This will invoke the editor, so you can describe the token.

Effort Token Example: Rebuilding the Bridge

The bridge across the Oisen River has collapsed as a result of war, and the issue is now up on the flagpole, so players can help or hinder its rebuilding.

Sir Rein decides that he'd like to commit a little bit of his personal wealth towards hiring some burly fellows to help rebuild the bridge. He doesn't own a Resource that he can draw upon, so he's just calling upon his personal capital. He plays a scene about it, and then writes an effort token: Rein went down to the docks and hired some bored dockhands to come help move rocks in the bridge-building effort. He then attaches this token in support of the flagpole issue.

Effort Token Example: Sabotage at the Bridge

Sir Reginald, on the other hand, decides that he doesn't want to see the bridge rebuilt. He's secretly working to undermine the Crown of Amber and hopes to hinder the rebuilding effort as much as he can. So, he goes out and secretly recruits some insurrectionists. He's using his own personal wealth and putting himself on the line when he does this.

Sir Reginald has to play out the sabotage scene with the bridge's prop controller first, to determine what actually happens, and he'll remain in danger of being discovered as the one who hired the saboteurs. He writes an effort token to represent the sabotage, describing the scene and its outcome. He then attaches this token in opposition to the flagpole issue.

Non-Mundane Tokens

Normally, a token can only represent something mundane — nothing that is magical or has exceptional properties (including notably fine craftsmanship) in Amber or the Golden Circle. In order to create a token that represents something non-mundane, you need to use one or more special gifts.

The most basic of these gifts allow you to create a token that signifies something non-mundane, but which doesn't give you any kind of RPG system benefit. In essence, these non-mundane tokens are simply fancy color. These gifts have the "token-0" powerbit (found in the "Powerbits" line of the +gift display).

You create a token using one of these gifts with:

+token/power gift-code spending 0 in title-of-token

This will invoke the editor, so you can describe the token. You don't need to include any part of the gift description — the gift will always be displayed any time someone is shown the token.

Non-Mundane Token Example: The Ballad of the Water-Crossers

Corwin has a gift called Bard, which reads as follows: This character is skilled at the composition of poetry and music. Such compositions stir the heart and leave their impression upon the memory, and can be used to inspire others. The character may gain a direct bonus to moving the emotions of others in the presence of a performance of his composition. He may write 0-Focus tokens representing his compositions.

Corwin wants to write a song that will be melancholy and memorable to future generations of sailors. He decides to call it, "The Ballad of the Water-Crossers".

Corwin's player writes a token using this gift, describing the song and its intended effect (and if he's really ambitious, he writes some poetry). Because it's created with gift and notably special, Corwin's player can, for instance, claim that in a duel of "who can get the audience's attention with their song", involving an NPC audience, that this song garners more applause than that of someone who doesn't have a representative token created with this gift.

Non-Mundane Token Example: Droppa Obtains Whiskey

Droppa has a gift called Scrounge Alcohol. The relevant portion of it reads as follows: This character is adept at scrounging alcohol. Whatever the local conditions, this character is generally able to figure out what a given drink is, what its effects will be, and how to get ahold of it. The character can write 0-Focus tokens to represent his alcohol finds; the alcohol can be of exceptional quality and have unusual properties, although it is ultimately non-magical.

Droppa wants to amaze someone with the quantity of whiskey that he can drink. Slyly, though, the bottle that he obtains tastes like strong stuff of extraordinarily fine quality, but only gets the imbiber very slowly drunk.

Droppa's player writes a token using this gift, describing the bottle of whiskey, how he got it, and its intended effect. Now he can +declare it later, demonstrating his special preparations, proving how exceptional it is, and claiming the altered effect.

Ability-Granting Tokens

Some gifts can be used to create tokens that grant, for one time only, something that's equivalent to an RPG ability. All such gifts have the "power-token" powerbit, along with either "token-3" or "token-6". Creating one of these tokens requires the investment of Focus (creating what is generically known as a "Focus-invested token"), representing the IC time, effort, and/or energy needed to use that particular gift.

Other gifts represent exceptionally powerful abilities that should be time-limited (either for IC sensibility, or OOC game balance reasons). All such gifts have the "token-3" or "token-6" powerbit, but not "power-token" (nor "bonus-token"). Creating one of these tokens requires the investment of Focus, representing IC time/effort/energy, implicit story significance, etc.

A token like these works only once — it must be consumed when used. Although consumption doesn't actually destroy the token, the token will be marked as used, and you won't be able to consume it again. Once it's marked as used, other people shouldn't accept any further use of it as valid.

The length of time such a token is in effect will be specified in the gift description; usually, the effect is either instant and transient, or it lasts for a scene.

These tokens normally have scene scope, meaning that the token is useful on a personal scale. Only gifts with the "story-token" powerbit can create tokens that are useful on a broader scale (for the battlefield, for off-screen actions, for flagpole issues, etc.).

You create a token using one of these gifts with:

+token/power gift-code spending Focus-amount in title-of-token

This will invoke the editor, so you can describe the token. You don't need to include any part of the gift description — the gift will always be displayed any time someone is shown the token. (Gifts marked "token-6" can be used to create 0-Focus, 3-Focus or 6-Focus tokens, as specified by Focus-amount; gifts marked "token-3" can only be used to create 0-Focus or 3-Focus tokens. Some gifts have different effects, depending whether 0, 3, or 6 Focus is spent.)

Ability-Granting Token Example: Protective Amulet

A particular artificer has a gift that enables him to create an amulet and inscribe it, with the following effect: It can be used to create a 3-Focus token, representing the amulet's ability to grant, a single time, immunity to something specific (what it is must be stated at the time of creation). This can be a physical blow guaranteed to be non-mortal, shrugging off the impact of a fall, briefly being immune to fire, surviving a one-time poisoning attempt, or the like — in essence, something which would kill or severely harm a character, once, doesn't.

The artificer is a friend of a soldier, and he knows that his friend will be fighting on the steps of Kolvir soon, holding off Corwin and Bleys's invasion. Since there's a very real danger of being pushed off the steps into free-fall off the mountain, the artificer creates a token representing an amulet he's created that protects the bearer from the injury caused by a fall, and gives it to his friend.

Now, when the scene is played out, his friend can +declare the amulet's effects, to whatever story results seem reasonable. (Note that if the token had been written in some unreasonable way, either bending the rules given in the gift description, or breaking them entirely, or simply being twinkish, the opposition would be under no obligation whatsoever to accept the token.)

Ability-Granting Token Example: Random's Good Luck

Random leads something of a charmed life. To represent that, he has a gift that reads as follows: This character is the underdog — he has a knack for making out all right, somehow managing to turn seemingly bad situations to his favor. Whenever this character would take a consequence (whether in a contest or as part of a War), he may also name a fact, explaining how one consequence also results in something that turns out in his favor; to do so, he must expend a 3-Focus token of "Karma" created with this gift. The consequence and fact must still be negotiated. Though the consequence is normally immediate, the fact may be something longer-term.

In this case, the token just represents the Focus expenditure requirement. Random can write these without any description, since they're really just 3-Focus storehouses of Karma that must be spent, which limits the frequency of use and increases the effective cost of a potent ability.

Bonus-Granting Tokens

Some gifts can be used to create tokens that grant, for one time only, a bonus. Specifically, these tokens can be consumed for a bonus on a Contest or Challenge, or to score points in a War, subject to the limitations described by the gift used to create the token. All such gifts have the "bonus-token" powerbit, along with either "token-3" or 'token-6". Creating one of these tokens requires the investment of Focus (creating what is generically known as a "Focus-invested token"), representing the IC time, effort, and/or energy needed to use that particular gift.

Some RPG systems also create tokens that can be consumed for a bonus. They are used exactly like tokens created using bonus-token gifts, and are similarly subject to the restrictions that are described within the token. All bonus tokens, whether gift-created or created by other RPG systems, are subject to the normal rules of negotiation and consent that govern all tokens (and all play).

A token like these works only once — it must be consumed when used. Although consumption doesn't actually destroy the token, the token will be marked as used, and you won't be able to consume it again. Once it's marked as used, other people shouldn't accept any further use of it as valid.

These tokens normally have scene scope, meaning that the token is useful on a personal scale. For a token to be useful on a broader scale (on the battlefield, for off-screen actions, for flagpole issues, etc.), it needs to be created with one of the following:

This will invoke the editor, so you can describe the token. You don't need to include any part of the gift description — the gift will always be displayed any time someone is shown the token. (For bonus purposes, gifts marked "token-6" can be used to create 3-Focus or 6-Focus tokens, as specified by Focus-amount; gifts marked "token-3" can only be used to create 3-Focus tokens.)

Bonus-Granting Token Example: Julian's Beasts

Julian has been set by Eric to guard Arden. He has a gift that allows him to create, out of the shadows, beasts with extraordinary characteristics. This includes: Limited-quantity, multiple creatures made as tokens with up to 6 Focus invested. A token of this type can be consumed for a bonus, in a situation where the beasts are directly involved; once the token is consumed, this batch of beasts is expended (killed, wounded beyond recovery, or otherwise taken out of the story). These creatures are fundamentally mundane in nature, but can have their characteristics greatly enhanced (for speed, strength, etc.).

In preparation for some future eventuality, Julian creates Storm Hounds, fast, vicious creatures capable of fighting an automobile, and writes a 6-Focus token to represent them. When Corwin and Random come to Arden, and Julian attacks them, sending the Storm Hounds ahead, he consumes this token in a +compare against Corwin, giving himself a +6 bonus, and Corwin quite a fight. (Unfortunately for Julian, the Storm Hounds aren't enough to win him the fight.)

Bonus-Granting Token Example: Benedict's Shadowfound Reserves

Benedict knows that war is coming, and he wants to be properly prepared. He goes out into shadow to recruit a contingent of troops, and uses his Pattern abilities to lead them back to Amber. His Pattern Walker gift lets him do the following: The initiate can go into shadow to obtain mundane resources, such as troops and wealth. He may write tokens with up to 6 Focus representing shadowfound resources.

Benedict's player writes a 6-Focus token using the gift, and describes the characteristics of those troops. Later, in a War, he expends the token in order to score points, when he introduces these troops as a reserve element that comes charging onto the field at a crucial moment.

Bonus-Granting Token Example: Pain Draught

A healer has a gift that enables them to brew a pain draught. The relevant portion of the gift reads: This is represented by a 3-Focus token that the brewer of the draught can give away. The token may be spent for a bonus on any compare where the drinker is using Resolve, and where the ability to ignore pain is relevant.

The healer has a friend who will soon go into battle. He creates this token and gives it to his friend. His friend roleplays out drinking it, and when it comes time for the +compare in the fight, he uses this token in the +compare, consuming the token for a +3 bonus. Because of the limitation specified in the ability, he has to use Resolve for this +compare, and pain has to be relevant — so he agrees to be badly beaten up, as part of the circumstances of the scene.